Anyone who has been near a desert has always wanted to explore it. One way of doing this, albeit very briefly, is to take a SUV safari in the desert. This offers a bit of exploration combined with an incredible off road experience that everyone from seven to seventy seem to enjoy. Anantara Hotels Resorts & Spas, an operator of luxury hotel resorts in Asia and the Middle East, has several properties at desert locations.
Many travel companies at desert locations offer variations of the SUV desert safari. This involves driving a 4×4 vehicle over sand dunes at maniacal speeds so that the occupants have the most thrilling experience of their lives. This is also known as dune bashing. The episodes generally start with a convoy of 4x4s leaving the city behind early in the evening and hitting the dunes after reducing the pressure in the SUVs tires to increase its footprint, gaining more traction and to avoid sinking into the sand. The convoy is also a necessary precaution to avoid losing direction and getting lost. Ensuring the passengers are securely buckled in, the driver commences to kick up a dust navigating the steep troughs and crests of the dunes shaking up its passengers and giving the uninitiated quite a fright. The SUV driver who has been doing this many times is well up in his game. The SUV desert safari is also most people’s first introduction to the desert and the discovery that the desert landscape is very varied indeed.
The dune bashing lasts for about 20 minutes. The passengers are allowed a respite to watch the sunset over the dunes which is really a very pretty sight. The safari includes a visit to a camel farm, camel rides, henna tattoos and a traditional Arabic meal sitting on carpets and cushions on the sand around a campfire entertained by a belly dancer and relaxing with a shisha afterwards. The safari is also an opportunity to try sand boarding and if vehicles are available at site, dune bashing on ATVs as well.
Chandrishan Williams is a travel writer who writes under the pen name, Caleb Falcon. He specializes in writing content based on the many exciting world adventures that await intrepid travellers.